The World Food Program (WFP) has been present in the Kyrgyz Republic since 2008. Within their Country Strategic Plan (2023-2027), WFP strengthens national capacities and systems for social protection, emergency preparedness and response, disaster risk management and climate change adaptation, and improves food security and nutrition for the most vulnerable households.
As part of the goals to strengthen national capacity in DRR in the Kyrgyz Republic, in 2023, WFP, with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) began implementing an initiative aimed at improving national disaster risk assessment procedures in the Kyrgyz Republic. As a result of the first two phases of this initiative, pilot studies were conducted jointly with the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Kyrgyz Republic (MES KR) and local authorities to assess the capacity of existing risk assessment mechanisms and procedures. The results of the first two phases of the analysis demonstrated that state systems so far are mainly based on disparate methods for assessing hazard, vulnerability and exposure and do not provide holistic risk assessment data. Thus, planning of DRR measures and strategies at the local and central levels is usually based on hazard assessment data without holistic analysis of vulnerability data and other important risk dimensions, which reduces the effectiveness of planning measures, and the accuracy and precision of targeting. In 2024, WFP, in collaboration with the government, implemented the next phase of this initiative aimed at piloting an effective localized risk assessment model. Thus, for localized application, the subnational INFORM model for Caucasus and Central Asia was selected, which provides an effectively formed index-based risk calculation system that is both intuitive and accessible to a wide range of multidisciplinary specialists involved in the DRR system at the local and central levels.
This pilot study ("Localized index-based risk assessment approach based on the INFORM Risk model at the municipal level of the Kyrgyz Republic") was implemented by WFP in close collaboration with (MES KR with the support of SDC and in consultation with UNDRR ROECA.
As a result of the pilot exercise, the INFORM risk assessment model for the Suzak District of the Jalal-Abad oblast, one of the most disaster-prone administrative regions of the Kyrgyz Republic, has been completed, based on extensive research done by the MES KR and WFP. The localized INFORM Subnational Risk model for Suzak district covers all 13 Aiyl Aimak-s/rural municipalities (about 302,499 people and around 2,618 square kilometers), corresponding to the lowest and first administrative level in the country.
The results of the localized application of the subnational INFORM model will be presented to the government of the Kyrgyz Republic for consideration, adaptation and implementation into the ongoing practice of DRR activities.